Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Sentinels books 1 through 4 by Rich Natovech and Lucian Vecchio ::
by William the Bloody
A little over ten years ago, the acclaimed and world renown super heroes team known as the Sentinels disappeared. They sacrificed themselves to save the world, but the circumstances have been shrouded in mystery. Their children grew up together under the watchful eye and mentorship of the only Sentinel to survive, Blaster, and when they reached adulthood, followed in their parents' footsteps as a new team of Sentinels. The new team was a moderate success, but then a member, Switchfast, the brother of their leader Templar, died in battle and the team disbanded. Several of the members remain active fighting crime on their own, and it is when ex-Sentinel Harlette rescues a young woman from a demon-like creature who mentions the name of an old nemesis, Lord Damien (and father of twin Sentinels Gospel and Sin), that the group is called together for the first time since laying their fallen comrade to rest. Little do they know that there is someone hard at work in secret, setting in motion certain events that will change the course of their lives forever.
The Good: This is a small press comic, so I went into it with my expectations set kind of low and was pleasantly surprised. The art was better than average for a self published comic, and as it progressed it kept on getting better and better. I was rather impressed by the use of sharp camera angles and there are a few panels where there is bright white light and the characters are defined by their shadows which is pulled off really well. The character art has the look of western comics with a heavy manga influence and that suits me just fine (because that's kind of how I draw, isn't it?). There is some nudity depicted in the comic (both female and male) but it doesn't feel gratuitous as it is pretty much centered on the story. As for the story, like the art, it gets better as it progresses, but then you think back to the stuff that happened before and it all fits together quite well. Each of the four books has it's own story, but all four of them combined complete one big story arc, which was great planning from the beginning. The story has strong Marv Wolfman era Teen Titans parallels, what with Gospel and Sin having a father who is a devil-type character (um, Raven, anyone?) and all the alien things reminded me of Starfire, but hey, I like those things and I also liked what this comic did with those themes. For brand new characters, they were all really well fleshed out and came into their own. By the end, you really care about them. I enjoyed how along the way good guys became bad guys and bad guys became good guys, people changed their minds, they GREW.
The Bad: Book 1 had some pretty rushed writing in my opinion. It felt like they had lots of ground to cover and limited pages in which to do it, so it's like one thing right after another. With each book, the Sentinels members change their costumes for some reason. I would have preferred some consistency. I mean, I would understand if one or two people changed outfits, or even if it happened at different times, but everyone at the start of each new volume?? Bleh, pick a look and stick with it (plus your characters are more marketable that way). The computer core for the Sentinels' base, CYPRUS, which is integral to the plot, is never fully explained within the confines of the story to my tastes. I sort of get it, but I'm not even sure, but maybe if I read it again I'll pick up on something I overlooked.
Overall, this is one of my new favourite independent comics. The characters really grew on me and I could almost feel myself getting choked up over the big finale. The story really came full circle. It starts out with a few kinks, but if you stick with it I think any fan of super hero comics will dig it.
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